Thoughtleadership for Successful
CRM and Sales Process

Posts Tagged as‘Gmail crm integration’

As the CEO of CampaignerCRM, the one thing I hear all the time from prospects is "please, please make it easier to use for my sales reps!" "Making it easier to use" has been a guiding beacon for CampaignerCRM and our engineering teams since day one.

I’ve been in the hi-tech space for nearly 40 years and the cry to "make it easier to use" has always been important for end-user adoption and successful deployments of any software product. I have found that over the years, product managers often focus on new wiz bang features that customers never use instead of adding new functionality that actually makes a product easier to use. But often, the "we put it in because we can build it" approach may be nice, but it overlooks what it ultimately means to the end user. Does it really add value? Does it actually make it easier for them? Those are two aspects that can make the difference between successful adoption and annoyance.

For example, last week, we introduced two major new "ease-of-use" features that allow campaignercrm customers to easily integrate with two significant business tools: QuickBooks and Gmail. The two products can now be seamlessly (and easily) integrated to synchronize and share information between their platforms with CampaignerCRM giving the sales team easy access to accurate and always up-to-date information, from wherever they work.

Most CRM systems do a number of things well. They capture information about the customer. Some, like CampaignerCRM, track the steps of the sales process to help the sales team work effectively through the sales cycle, capturing details in the notes and keeping information organized and accessible, all in a central location.

The tough part is getting all of the emails, presentations, documents and more that are part of the sales ‘conversation’ into that same system. Unless they’re copied or entered into the system, these elements are unavailable to the rest of the sales organization. And, manually entering them into the system is clearly not a salesperson’s favorite activity, so the CRM system suffers.

So much for ease of use!

Our recent release is a great example of the many ways that we work to make CampaignerCRM easier to use. It’s all about the value that the user gets by using the system. For example, by integrating QuickBooks into campaignercrm, your sales people can now easily generate accurate estimates, sales orders, receipts and more without having to involve the back office. Because accurate information is being shared and visible from a central resource, both departments benefit in a number of ways. But, in the process, the salesperson has shortened the time between making the sale and invoicing the customer. For a commission-driven salesperson, that’s a great use of their time and the sales tool becomes one that they’re motivated and eager to use.

It’s the same idea with our new Gmail integration. By synchronizing your Gmail contacts and emails with CampaignerCRM, you capture all of the sales process communication into one central file. Your salespeople and managers see a chronology of the communication with the customer, giving them insight to help make the deal move along in the right direction. No one wastes time hunting for the critical missing email, the right presentation that was shared or even the customer’s responses. Everything is all there in one place. Once again, when you make the salesperson’s job easier, they’re more likely to adopt – and use – your CRM system.

Making things easier is what makes a CRM system something that’s actually enjoyable for your team to use. If CRM’s create new tools or features and don’t clearly show how valuable it can be to the user – and their managers, then my conclusion is easy: the cry for “ease of use” won’t change at all for the next 40 years!